Unfinished Business
by Chaotica
Summary: Zims' unresting spirit can't decide if he's supposed to kiss Dib or kill him. (Not real Slash, sorry Zim/Dibbers)
1. Part 1

A/N: I don't know what possessed me to do this (I hate puns) but I did it...so...you know...whatever.  
Disclaimer: Oh come on...  
  
Unfinished Business  
  
Dib stepped quietly through the graveyard. Monuments to the dead stood around him still and gray as the one he approached. His amber eyes did not fill with tears as he neared he held no flowers in his hands.  
He finally stopped walking and stared down at a stone set a few inches above the ground. It read: ZIM, beloved master, despised enemy, he is missed.  
For a long time he stood there not moving. He was older now, twenty-four-years-old, his trench coat had many holes.  
"Another year now." He said. His voice sounded a bit hollow in the slowly moving air. "A whole 'nother year since." He paused reconsidering his words. "Gir's doing alright. He likes living with me." He laughed at himself. "I always tell you that."  
His face fell as he kicked the ground beside the grave. "Not much has happened. Alora, she refuses to see Collie. Says she want nothing to do with her." His eyes unfocused for a moment. "The one time I make it with a girl and I knock her up. Chose a pretty shallow one. Good thing I was drunk at the time or I'd feel worse." There was another pause. "You seem to be the only one I'll talk about that with. I can tell you this, you're a better listener now." He half-smiled but it fell away.  
"I still don't know why I did this instead of turning you into the government." He pushed his hands into his coat pockets. "It didn't seem right anymore. Not with you gone like that, it wasn't right."  
He lifted his head and looked off into the West where the sun was setting. "I have to go now." He said as if expecting the headstone to persuade him to stay and talk some more. "Collie, I have to go pick her up." He paused a moment more. "Bye Zim." He turned and walked back out of the cemetery.  
***  
Pounding on the door made Dib look up from the TV. A little girl beside him with spiky hair tied back in a thick pony-tail looked at him with wide eyes.  
"Stay here Collie." He said getting up. It was early the next day, Saturday to be exact. He opened the door to find two police officers standing there. "May I help you?" He asked catiously.  
"Dib C.?" One officer asked.  
Dib nodded. "What's this about?"  
"Sir are you the next-of-kin to a Zim, uh, doesn't seem to be a last name, buried in the Oakey Hills Cemetery?"  
"Yes." Dib opened the door a little wider.  
"Sir last night that headstone was defaced badly, three bodies were found on it, badly mutilated." The other officer said. "We were wondering if you be able to tell us something."  
"Zims' headstone?"   
"Daddy?"  
"Collie go back in the living room okay?" He shooed the girl away.  
"We think it was a ritualistic suicide." One of the officers said. "We couldn't get a date off the headstone but did this Zim die around this date?"  
"Yes, yesterday, five years ago. Was his grave disturbed farther than that?"  
"No sir. It looks like some teenagers got too deep in a game, candles and chanting."  
"Would you like to come with us to visit the site?"  
"No, that's all right." Dib said, he sounded a little confused.  
"Alright then sir, good day to you." The two officers tipped their hats and went back to their car.  
Dib shut the door considering what he'd just heard. It could have been just some loony teenagers thinking they were raising the dead or some such thing. He shook his head. That was probably it.  
"Daddy what was that?" The little girl who looked like a little Dib minus the glasses asked.  
"Nothing sweetie. Come on, let's go watch cartoons some more." He took her hand and led her back into the living room.  
***  
He lay back in his bed staring at the ceiling. After a moment Dib took off his glasses and put them on his nightstand. His thoughts whirled.  
Another set of officers had come by the house for more information on Zim. The way he had died and such. Dib told all he dared.   
His public story was that Zim had died in a laboratory accident. Which was partially true, it was in a lab and Dib had accidentally gotten free from his bindings.  
They were gone now. Collie was asleep in her room.   
His eyes drooped as he fell asleep. He let his mind wander to other things and soon found himself very much asleep. But it was colder. So much colder.  
His mind rose from unconsciousness enough to reach blindly for more of his blankets. He settled back, mind barely above sleep and cool sensations persisting.  
He at first didn't recognize the shape of a hand, two hands, more, reaching up from the foot of the bed. It mingled in his resting mind as phantom images.  
Something was so heavy on his chest when he tried to open his eyes they seemed glued shut. Whatever it was felt cold but vaguely comforting. He felt a far away pleasing sensation on his neck as he finally got one eye open.  
The other opened, the world was still as fuzzy in his mind as to his eyes. Cold weight pressed in all the right places before he realized there was someone in the bed with him.  
He jerked and pushed the person up off him. He couldn't see who it was it was almost too dark. But streetlamp light filtered into the room through a window casting an eerie yellow-orange glow off the alien head.  
His breath caught. "Zim?"  
Zim, or whoever it was, had at first looked placid. Now his face screwed up in rage. Wide red eyes sank into dark pits. He opened his mouth as his face contorted even farther and screamed. It was the sound of metal being twisted and tortured into unwilling shapes.  
Claws on the ends of long hands ripped at Dib as he struggled to get the invader off of him. He screamed in a mortal voice as the tortured one continued. Pieces of cloth flew into the air as extra clawed hands struck wildly.  
Suddenly the over-head light came on blinding Dib and causing him to cry out again.  
"Master?"  
Dib sat up, his attacker gone. Bits of fluff floated down around him. He looked around the room searching but found nothing.  
Nothing except a little silver-blue robot standing in the doorway clutching a rubber pig.  
Dib finally caught his breath and found scratches along his arms. "What the hell was that?" He asked only getting a blank look as response from Gir.  
***  
He stumbled a bit in the graveyard. Over stones he didn't see as he hurried to a particular one. He eventually found it and went under the abandoned 'Police Line' tape. It looked undisturbed to him. There were bits of wax stuck to the stone but other than that it was clean.  
He blinked. What had he been expecting? A hole in the ground where the alien had escaped his resting place?  
He caught his breath but felt a cold trickle down his spine. He whirled to find the sun setting and nothing more. His jaw clenched as the adrenaline refused to stop flowing.  
"Where are you Zim?" He asked aloud to the empty cemetery.  
"I am where I've always been." A voice whispered in his ear.  
Again Dib jerked finding nothing but cold air. Or maybe not. He didn't feel alone anymore.  
He stiffened as a cold hand pressed under his coat. An arm hooked around him from behind. Chills numbed his body as something icy ran over the back of his neck. "I will have you." The voice said, an edge of metal hidden under echoes. "Then I will kill you." It was gone. He was let go.  
He gasped for air and backed away from the grave. He then ran for his car with all the strength he had left in him. 


	2. Part 2

Unfinished Business  
  
Dib looked up at his co-worker Rin after explaining what had happened. The other man was older than Dib but had more experience with Specters and violent ghosts than he did.  
"Sounds like a vengeance deal to me."  
"But what about the thing in bed?" Dib asked. "Zim never had it for me like that."  
"That you know of." Rin said sitting back in his chair. "How long has he been dead? Five years you said?"  
Dib nodded.  
"Mind describing the circumstances of his death?"  
Dib paused. "I, don't know if I can."  
"You don't know?"  
The younger man met Rins' eyes. "It's, incriminating information."  
The half-smile that seemed a permanent part of Rins' face fell. "What?"  
Dib lowered his eyes. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to repeat it. I did what I did for Earth, no other reason. You may not believe me but he was going to destroy us."  
"Alright man, go ahead."  
Dib swallowed hard. "He caught me one day. Banged me around pretty good too."  
~ ~ ~  
"Zim? What are you doing?" Dib demanded as metallic arms held him in place on the floor. His nemesis approached with a sinister grin on his face. He looked very satisfied.  
"Don't worry Dib." The alien said. "I've told you once before. A Prisoner of War." He paused as if to savor the moment. "And now, for the experimentation."  
~ ~ ~  
"Most of it was horrible. I still have scars." Dib sat forward and leaned on the table between him and Rin. "Then, I managed to get free."  
~ ~ ~   
Dib scurried down the dark tubes and corridors. A cylindrical metal device in his hands. He eventually lost his footing and fell maybe five feet into a room.  
He saw Zim facing him from across the room, he looked disapproving.  
"You! How did you get loose?" He approached, Dib fired.   
The shot went wild. They both ducked from the ricoche, Dib fired several more times.  
Thousands of pounds of tubes and wiring creaked above them. Zim lifted deep red eyes up in time to see it all shift downward getting caught on itself.  
"Run." Dib said backing away from the collapsing construct.  
"Stupid Human, I have to repair that now." He glared at Dib.  
"Zim it's going to!" But he never got to finish. The deafening roar or metal being twisted out of shape as it hit the unyielding ground filled his ears.  
Zims' hand reached out from under the pile. It twitched for a few seconds then went limp.  
~ ~ ~  
Dib ran a hand through his hair painfully aware of how pale Rin was. "After that I went out and got drunk for lack of anything more sane to do. Next thing I knew I woke up next to Alora. And well, you know how that went." He cast his eyes anywhere but at the other man. "Later I went back and had his body buried. I adopted his little robot into my care and had the place boarded up. Haven't been back since."  
"Christ." Rin finally said.  
"No shit."  
"Look, I'll do what I can. Just wish I had the stuff they used on his grave. Might help."  
Dib reached under the table into a rather worn backpack he had with him. He dropped the smoky-plastic-wrapped bundle on the table. A bright yellow 'Evidence' sticker had been slapped across the front.   
"Do I want to know how you got that?" Rin asked.  
"No." Dib got up. "I have to go pick up Collie from day-care."  
"Sure, sure, I'll look this stuff over." He didn't meet Dibs' eyes.  
"Thank Rin."  
The older man shrugged. "It's nothing, seen worse." He tried to smirk reassuringly. "Promise."  
Dib left the almost condemnable house hold not feeling the slightest bit better.  
***  
"Collie, Gir, don't go too far from the house." Dib eyed the little girl and SIR unit running across the fenceless yard. He trusted Gir to be in his wits enough to not let Collie get hurt and get her help if she did.   
The two waved back, well Collie waved, Gir did little summersaults around her.  
He sighed and slipped back into the small house. He slumped down on the couch in the front room wondering if Zim planned on showing up again tonight. He also wondered where the Irkens' sudden physical fascination in Dib had come from. Had it always existed?  
He shook his head.   
No, if Zim had wanted Dib like that he had lots of chances when Dib had no way to fight back. He'd only caused the Human a lot of pain and misery.  
He leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes. He didn't sleep at all after Zim had shown up. Then he had run around all day getting the stuff from the evidence locker at the police station. He felt worn out.  
Just before his mind slipped into a dream he registered cold weight in his lap and on his chest. He shifted feeling uncomfortable and tried to reach for a blanket. It took about five seconds for him to jerk awake.  
This time he didn't speak as the creature stared down at him. It was Zim all right. But he was tall for some reason. In life Zim had not grown an inch.  
Overly bright red eyes glimmered like broken glass as his ghostly green head tilted. He seemed to be searching for something and stared unblinkingly down at Dib.   
He was vaguely transparent in the failing sunlight but felt as solid as anything alive. But he felt like he had just walked out of a meat-locker.  
Dib swallowed hard as thin cold arms snaked around his neck. "Zim?" He asked, fear written in his voice.  
The alien didn't seem to recognize his own name. For a brief heart-stabbing moment Dib thought maybe it wasn't Zim after all. Then the being nodded slightly.  
"Hello Dib." The metal was hidden under his voice again. Like some sort of buffer between Dib and a silent rage.  
Dib swallowed again. "What are you doing?"  
Zim tilted his head the other way. "It's so cold now Dib." He said, the metal sounded louder. A freezing hand slid down Dibs' face. Red eyes twitched. "You did this." The sounds of twisting metal erupted from everywhere at once.  
Dib tried to fight back but Zims' mouth clamped over his own. Cold spread through him, he was unaware that Zim had sunk into his body. He fell to the floor convulsing and cursing in a mixture of English and Irken.  
Dib struggled against a force that pushed his mind away from the control of his body. This couldn't happen, this was too unreal this was...  
He couldn't understand anything anymore. There was a loud banging somewhere, far away. So cold.  
Rin burst into the house covered in a variety of charms. "Holy shit!" He stopped dead in his tracks seeing Dib, his body twisting on the floor. Eyes as black as night and pain on everything else.   
Dib opened his mouth showing razor sharp teeth and a snake-like tongue. He tried to attack Rin but stumbled on stiff legs that seemed to jerk uncontrollably.  
He started saying things, starting with the bible and ending with a Celtic chant. Nothing worked. He threw down some of the charms he'd had to carry and grabbed a framed Childs drawing off the wall. "Dib!" He shoved the picture in the possessed Humans face. "Look! Collie! Think of Collie!"  
What had once been Dib struggled upright and grabbed the framed picture. The screams and howls died down as he traced a finger over the main image of the drawing. Then his eyes flashed red and the glass of the picture shattered on the floor.  
Dib dropped to the ground but Zim stayed upright showing himself as a gaunt arachnid-like figure. He disappeared in a rush of raged screaming through the wall just as the orange light of the sunset filtered in through the window.  
Dib groaned on the floor clutching his stomach.   
Rin knelt down beside him. "I knew if none of this religious crap worked I could use Collie to bring you back." He said excitedly helping Dib sit up.   
"What?" Dib asked. He tried to shake away the stars in his sight.  
"Collies' picture." Rin picked the paper out of the glass and ruined frame.  
Dib looked at the picture a moment. It was a bright red Irken symbol surrounded with laughing suns and flowers. "That's not Collies'." He said looking towards the back door where the sound of little sneaker clad feet could be heard being chased little metal ones. "It's Girs'." 


	3. Part 3

Unfinished Business  
  
The car pulled up silently in front of the oddly shaped green house. The parodies of pink flamingos were bent over in the lawn, the lawn gnomes deactivated for good. Dib turned off the engine but didn't move.  
"You sure you want to do this?" Rin asked.  
"I have to." He glanced in the rear view mirror and tilted it so he could see his daughters face. "You stay with Rin okay Puppy?" Dib used her nickname.  
She nodded. "Okay daddy." Her little eyes strayed to the house then to the empty spot beside her. Gir had suddenly flown off with a brilliant flash of red in his eyes.   
Dib had hoped to question him about why Zim would leave so abruptly from the sight of the Irken symbol. But all he knew was what Collie told him. That Gir had suddenly turned red and screamed 'I obey, Master!' and taken off.  
Dib opened the driver side door and got out. He leaned down to the window to Rin who was sliding in to take his place. "Give me two hours."  
"Two?"  
Dib nodded. "Two, I don't know what'll happen in there, it might take some time to even find Zim."  
"If he's in there."  
"He's in there." Dib said straightening up. He flashed a smile to Collie then went around the car through the front gate.   
The house was boarded up, the front door locked tight. He whirled a key ring on his finger as he went. The door took some persuading to unlock but he finally got it. One more look back to the car waiting by the curb and he went in.  
***  
At first there was nothing. No lights no sounds. Then the computer kicked out of sleep-mode and allowed Dib to see. It looked the same, a bit dustier, but the same.  
He made his way to the middle of the living room floor. "Computer." He said. There was a little beep of response. "Take me to the 'Main Lab'."  
An error sound grated through the air. "Voice unrecognized, not cleared for 'Main Lab'."  
That wasn't right. Dib had put in a patch to make the computer recognize him as a valid personnel Irken. He bit his lip. "Zim. Let me down there."  
The floor started to lower suddenly. He almost fell over.   
Good, this was getting him somewhere.  
But the floor elevator didn't take him to the Main Lab. It took him to the maintenance bay where the Bubbly-looking Voot Cruiser sat its shield raised waiting for someone to enter.  
Dib took a few steps towards it then stopped. Halting little metal footsteps echoed from the shadows.  
Gir wobbled from the dark. His head hanging at an odd angle and his bright blue eyes had dimmed considerably. His arms swung uselessly by his side. If he hadn't been a robot Dib would have sworn he was the walking dead.  
"Gir?"  
The dim blue eyes flashed a deep red for a moment then went back to blue. A mechanical hiss of static escaped him then. "Master remembers now." His voice sounded broken down and full of static.  
"What does he remember Gir?"  
Girs' head rolled to the other side as a warped vocal sound came from him. "Betrayed." Was all Dib could make out.  
"Betrayed by who?" Dib circled around to the left trying to see if anything was outwardly wrong with the SIR unit.  
A pair of murkily-transparent tendrils tipped with ghostly claws slid from Girs small form. The sound of tormented metal scraped through the air. Then they subsided back into Gir and the sounds faded. "Tallest." Gir said vaguely. "Master goes to find them." Girs normal voice said, his eyes brightening for a moment before dimming almost to black.  
"Will he return?" Dib asked no longer trying to circle the droid.  
"Yesss - sss." Girs voice trailed off into static. "Return to C-collie." A squeal of feedback echoed for a moment.  
Dib watched Gir walk awkwardly to the Voot Cruiser. He climbed into it with what looked like great difficulty. The shield slid down and Dib felt his stomach turn.  
There sat Gir, but he wasn't alone. Zim was there, the real Zim, not the twisted spirit that remained of him. He looked like just before he died. Small but ruthless, he seemed to be adjusting controls. The Cruiser suddenly fired up.   
"Zim." Dib said quietly feeling rooted to the spot.  
Red eyes clouded by the clear-ish shield turned to him with a customary disdain. The Cruiser lifted up and Gir waved good-bye then it sped up crashing through everything and whirling away through the sky.  
Dib looked up through the hole and pulled his coat tighter around him. "Bye Zim."  
***  
"Ha, I have you now!" Red crowed moving his game piece across the board. The game he and Purple were playing, while vastly different than Chess was about as close as you could come to an Irken comparison.  
Purple narrowed his eyes. "That was a step below illegal and just above underhanded." He said trying to find a way out of the trap.  
"But it's still legal and allowed by the rules." Red smirked and settled back in his char.   
Purple was mid glare when the door to their compartment hissed open. "Who?"   
They both saw what looked to be a small SIR unit amble in awkwardly. The little robot lurched forward as if it only had half the control of its body that it needed.  
"What is the meaning of this?" Red demanded narrowing his eyes at the droid.  
Girs' eyes dimmed nearly to black and emitted a stuttering of sounds. "Ma-a-aster re-re-turns." Was the only intelligible thing he had said.  
"Who sent you?" Purple asked.  
Gir suddenly rose up a few inches into the air. Neither of the Tallest seemed taken aback by this, things floated and flew around them all the time. But what made them shudder was the new voice the SIR unit spoke in.  
"You sent me to die, and die I did."  
Reds' eyes widened. "It can't be."  
"Surely it's a joke, the thing is programmed with his voice. Just a joke." Purple said pulling away from the sight.  
"I had thought." The Zim-like voice continued from Girs' mouth. "That the Dib-Human had been my source of this sensation of betrayal. But I remembered." What sounded like a madness drenched laugh sent Girs' body into a fit of twitching. "It was you!"  
"We, I mean." Purples shivered, the room temperature had dropped.  
The sound of metal twisting and being tormented out of shape filled the air. A black haze that was in the rough shape of a tall Irken with clawed tentacles where Arachnid-legs usually were sprang forward. A mad rush of angry red eyes, cold pain and sounds of squealing metal were the only things either Tallest knew until there was nothing left.  
  
End 


End file.
